Human rights watchdog chief says 'extreme' early education poses serious rights issue

“The head of the national human rights watchdog on Monday took issue with the country's "excessive" early education fervor for young children, saying it is depriving them of their childhood. Private preschool programs, especially those specializing in English, have recently come under growing scrutiny over their intensive classes designed to prepare young children for competitive academic admissions. "The expansion of extreme early education is a serious children's rights problem," Ahn Chang-ho, chair of the National Human Rights Commission, said in a statement released a day before Children's Day. "Such excessive early education deprives children from time to play, rest and express themselves, as well as undermining their healthy growth and development," he said. Ahn cited a recent United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report that ranked Korea fourth in terms of children's skills, but 34th in mental health and 28th in physical health out of 43 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union. "While our children could be leading in ter

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